Trititanate‐nanosheet incorporated hydrogels: Self‐initiated photopolymerization and application in photodegradation of methylene violet

Exposing the aqueous mixtures of acrylamide (AAm) monomers and exfoliated trititanate nanosheets (TiNs) to ultraviolet light achieved nanocomposite hydrogels TiNs–PAAm in a facile one‐step synthetic route. The incorporated semiconductor TiNs functioned as a photocatalytic crosslinker, initiating the in situ photopolymerization of monomers and hydrogen‐bonding crosslinking with the polymeric networks to form nanocomposite hydrogels. The resultant hydrogels exhibited good absorption behaviors of methylene violet (MV), and the hydrogel prepared from an AAm/TiNs ratio of 2.46 × 10² g/g exhibited a maximum uptake of 8.4 g MV solution for 1 g. The immobilized TiNs retained high photocatalytic activity in the recyclable photodegradation of MV. It indicated the nanocomposite hydrogels may be considered as a good candidate in wastewater treatment. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:2811–2819, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers